How To Make a Fairy Door

I have made four different fairy doors so far for my various Fairy Products.

I will show you how I made each one.  Step by step instructions with photos

Fairy Door

How To Make a Basic Fairy Door

Materials and Tools needed

• A piece of wood
• Black acrylic paint
• 2 different colours of acrylic paint
• Clear gloss acrylic paint
• Jigsaw
• Wood file
• Ruler

I was able to get the wood free because my sister had replaced her old wooden fence. I have many 6 ft by 4 inch wooden slats. Some are warped but most are fine.Choose the wood carefully. It needs to be completely flat or the door will not sit right. If you are making the doors for outside make sure you choose the appropriate wood.

Fairy Door Shapes

Cutting the Wood to Make the Fairy Door

Decide on the size of the door you want to make. The width of the wood will determine this unless you plan to buy it new.

Measure the size onto your first piece and mark the end of the door. Draw the arch of the door on to the wood. This will be on the top of the wood piece. Always cut the arch first. Once this is done to your satisfaction then you can cut the end of the door. Now you have your door shape.

Use a wood file to smooth the door and make it neater.

Door before it was smoothed out

Door after it was smoothed out

Creating the Fairy Door

How To Make the Arch

Take the ruler and draw a light straight line down one of the sides. Do the same to the other side to the exact width as the first one. Go to the top of the door and mark a dot in the centre. Then move it down to the same size of the gap on the sides. 

From this dot draw the line of the arch to meet the line of the left side. Do the same from the right side. Now you have created your arch. If you are happy with the shape you can mark out the lines deeper by going over them with the pencil a few times. If the shape is a bit shaky just mark it out again until you are satisfied with it. Then you can mark them a few more times to make them easier to see.    

Draw the arch way with a pencil

How To Paint the Arch of the Fairy Door

On the inside of the line of the arch paint whatever colour you prefer as long as it is going to contrast the colour you intend to paint the main part of the door. Be careful to stay within the lines.

Leave to dry completely before you begin the next step.

Painting the Fairy Door

How you paint the main part of the fairy doors depends on what you are using them for. Or indeed your own taste. For adults I prefer to only paint the arch bricks and leave the main part of the door in its natural wood . If the wood I am using is not up to standard to leave like this then I paint it brown. Once I have finished the arch I use clear acrylic gloss paint to give a nice finish.

I like to paint the doors in bright colours when I make them for children. So choose whatever colour you prefer and paint it. Leave to dry completely before you proceed to the next step.

Now you want to draw out the outline of the large bricks around the sides. Get your pencil and draw your first brick at the very top. This brick is the largest one and is twice the size of most of the others. Go to the top of the arch and make another dot in the centre. This is the middle of your first brick. 

Draw a line to the left and then to the right from the top. Continue until you have made your brick. 

Have a look at the photo to see exactly what I mean. Draw the remaining lines down both sides.

How To Make a Fairy Door

Now you want to mark out the lines on the door. Using your ruler and pencil start from the centre of the top of the door and draw a line down to the bottom. On either side of this line draw another line the same distance apart. This will give you four wooden slates of the door. 

Be careful at this stage not to transfer the pencil lead onto the painted door from your hands. It is very easy to do but also easy to avoid. If you do mark the door finish the lines and then paint over the effected parts with your original colour.

If you intend to draw the hinges and a door knob now it the time to do it. Draw them with a pencil lightly first. When you are satisfied with them mark with the pencil a few more times to make the darker.

see the above photo.

How to Paint the Lines of the Door and Create the Bricks

I always start with the archway bricks. Mainly in black paint. I sometimes use a dark purple if painting a door for children. The colour needs to be dark because you want to bring out the light colour of the bricks.

Start from the top on your main brick. Carefully paint on the lines around the colour. This first brick will be straight but after that the other bricks need to be painted in different shapes to give the impression of different sizes. Look at the photos below to get a better idea of how best to achieve this. Leave to dry completely before you paint the lines on the door and the hinges and door knob.

Paint these the same colour as the lines on the bricks. Leave to dry. As you can see from the photo the hinges and doorknob have been painted over.  You can still see a faint outline of the shapes.  Paint these black.  Paint the whole door with Clear gloss acrylic paint. This gives a nice finish.

Completed Fairy Doors 

Fairy Door

Fairy Door on an Indoor Fairy Garden

Fairy Door

Fairy Door

Fairy Doors for Children

When I am making fairy doors for children I use stones, beads or buttons for the hinges and door knob. I also decorate some of the bricks. Kids love colour and different textures. 

Gluing the Door Knob and Hinges

Please be careful when gluing the pieces onto the door.  A glue gun will give you a very bad burn if you do not use it correctly.

I use an old hole maker to press down on the wood for small pieces.  This helps you to avoid the heat of the glue.

It depends what you have in your craft supplies on what you can use. If you intend to make these in order to sell then you should look out for all suitable items in craft shops, yard sales, car boots sales etc. 

Most of my first doors were made from old jewelry, buttons etc that my family gave me. So make sure you ask all relatives for old stuff they no longer use.

See the photos below for some of the doors I have finished off in this way

Tooth Fairy Door

Fairy Door

Fairy Door Wall Art

Fairy Door